Note Lovina using a non-Amish driver to take Verena to the doctor. While buggy transportation remains the norm among the Amish and a mainstay of their culture, they do hire non-Amish to take them on errands of greater import or distance. - Kevin

This is a diary of our day on Friday, Sept 3. Things are getting busy around here with the garden still needing care and the children preparing for the start of school next week!

6:30 a.m. Friday morning Joe had a 3 day work week so he was home today and also was home yesterday. The children are still sleeping. We are letting them sleep a little longer this morning since this will be their last weekday morning home in awhile. I didn’t get to bed as early as I would have liked to last night because Verena started with a post-concussion episode around 6 p.m. and it was difficult to get her settled down to sleep. I don’t like to go to bed until she is asleep when she is in this stage.

7:45 a.m. Everyone is awake now and making breakfast. Verena still has not come out of her post-concussion stage. We were hoping that when she woke up she would be her normal self again. So with one eye on her, I gather the laundry and Loretta helps throw it down the vent to the basement.

8:30 a.m. Ten minutes ago Verena snapped out of her post-concussion and is herself now, what a relief to us all. The girls are fixing a breakfast of eggs, fried potatoes, bacon, toast, cheese, tomatoes, orange juice, and milk.

9:15 a.m. Our neighbor lady comes to take Verena and I to her doctor appointment. Verena has had a swollen thumb for over a week now and x-rays show no break or fracture, but the doctor wants to check to see if it could have an infection in it.

NOON - Verena and I are back from the doctor and we also stopped to pick up some groceries. Daughters Elizabeth, 16, and Susan, 14, did the laundry while I was gone and it is drying very nicely. I don’t know what I would do without their good help. Meanwhile, Joe and the boys were digging up our storage potatoes for winter use while Loretta washed the breakfast dishes and swept the floors. The whole family was busy while I was gone. I make a few homemade pizzas for lunch. Turns out Verena’s thumb has an infection in it that the doctor thinks is from a small splinter or something. They put her thumb and finger in a splint and she has to take an antibiotic for 10 days.

1:15 p.m. Lunch is ready and everyone is ready for a break.

2:30 p.m. We bring in the laundry off the lines and fold it. Dishes from lunch are also being washed and put away. Joe and the boys are back outside digging potatoes and doing some tilling and mowing.

4:30 p.m. I start preparing supper. Joe got the chicken wings out of the freezer that come from the chickens we had butchered. I kept all the wings separate in one bag so I could make homemade hot wings with them. I make one batch a little sweeter and one a little hotter as some of the children don’t like the hot. Along with the hot wings, I am also making rigatoni and cheese casserole. Benjamin’s teacher from last year brought us a dish of this one day and the recipe and we really like it.

6 p.m. Verena started with another one of her post-concussions. We are hoping this one will be short. She can still walk through these now but tires easily. She uses up all her energy and when she is back to normal she is wore out.

7:25 Verena snaps back to normal. We waited a little longer to have supper thinking she might do that.

7:40 Supper is on the table and Elizabeth’s special friend, Tim, joins us.

8:30 p.m. Dishes are washed and some of the children are playing a board game called Aggravation. Joseph and Lovina are trying to teach Kevin how to play. I heard Lovina tell Kevin that you only need to be able to count to six to play Aggravation. Kevin had his fifth birthday yesterday. He said he wanted a brownie so Susan made brownies which was easy. Kevin felt so proud to be the one blowing out the candles this time. So hard to believe our youngest is starting school next week.

With apples in season try this delicious recipe for homemade fried apples:

Fried Apples

6 tart apples, sliced

1/4 cup bacon drippings

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 dash of nutmeg

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large skillet melt bacon drippings over low heat. Pour sliced apples evenly over skillet bottom. Sprinkle lemon juice over them and then brown sugar and then salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until apples are tender and juicy.